JANUARY 6: Tennessee’s interview with Anarumo will take place tomorrow, per Rapoport. He and Pelissero add the Nagy interview will be on Thursday. Those two will be joined by recently unemployed staffers Kevin Stefanski and Raheem Morris as candidates to speak with the Titans at least once.
JANUARY 5: The Titans were the first team to fire their head coach during the 2025 season, moving on from Brian Callahan on Oct. 13. They replaced Callahan with interim choice Mike McCoy, but it didn’t lead to a turnaround. With the Titans’ offseason now underway after a 3-14 campaign, they’re working to find Callahan’s full-time successor.
Tennessee has requested interviews with two Chiefs assistants – offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo – as well as Broncos D-coordinator Vance Joseph and Colts DC Lou Anarumo (via reports from Jordan Schultz, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network). The Titans are also expected to request a meeting with Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, per Schultz. Kingsbury’s name previously came up in connection to the Titans’ job on Sunday.
General manager Mike Borgonzi is leading the Titans’ search, though the next hire will come with owner Amy Adams Strunk‘s blessing. The fact that Borgonzi is considering Nagy and Spagnuolo for the job isn’t a surprise. Borgonzi worked in Kansas City’s front office from 2009-24, giving him plenty of familiarity with Nagy and Spagnuolo.
Both Nagy and Spagnuolo come with head coaching experience, but the former had far more success in his first stop. Nagy led the Bears to a 34-31 mark and two playoff berths from 2018-21. He earned Coach of the Year honors in his first season in Chicago.
Although Nagy doesn’t call the plays as Kansas City’s O-coordinator (that responsibility belongs to Andy Reid), his offensive background appeals to the Titans. Getting the most out of quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, will be among their next head coach’s most important tasks.
An acclaimed defensive assistant throughout his career, the 66-year-old Spagnulo has won four Super Bowls as a coordinator (three with the Chiefs, one with the Giants). However, his initial stint as a full-time head coach couldn’t have gone much worse. The then-St. Louis Rams went 10-38 under Spagnuolo from 2009-11. Spagnuolo later held the interim gig with the Giants after Ben McAdoo‘s firing in 2017. He went 1-3 in that brief run, but Spagnuolo’s stock has since gone way up during his brilliant seven-year reign atop the Chiefs’ defense.
Joseph, one of Spagnuolo’s fellow AFC West D-coordinators, is also a former head coach. While Joseph struggled to an 11-21 mark with the Broncos from 2015-16, his success since returning to Denver as an assistant in 2023 could lead to a second chance as a sideline general. Thanks largely to Joseph’s defense, which ranks first in sacks, second in yards and third in points, the 14-3 Broncos will enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Anarumo is the lone candidate in this group who has not worked as a head coach. Now 59, Anarumo was an assistant at various colleges before joining the Dolphins’ defensive staff in 2012. He earned his first D-coordinator job with the Bengals in 2019. Anarumo stayed in place for six years, a span in which the Bengals went to two AFC title games and a Super Bowl, but the team fired him after its defense finished 25th overall in 2024.
Anarumo quickly caught on with the Colts, who spiraled to an 8-9 mark after starting 8-2 in 2025. The Colts’ defense ended the year an underwhelming 21st in points and 23rd in yards, but injuries to DeForest Buckner, Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward took away three of Anarumo’s best players for significant periods of time. The Titans obviously aren’t holding that against him.
The Chiefs, Colts and Commanders failed to qualify for the playoffs, which means Nagy, Spagnulo, Anarumo and Kingsbury are eligible to interview as early as Tuesday, Dianna Russini of The Athletic relays. With the Broncos on a bye, Joseph will be available to discuss the Tennessee job on Wednesday. He’ll do so via Zoom, according to Mike Klis of 9News.
A MT Rushmore of awful coaches.
That’s not a very appealing list.
This year’s candidates aren’t very appealing. There isn’t a must have candidate out there in my opinion.
@Twoston. Jesse Minter. From the ravens tree, his dad was a nfl coach. He’s turned alot of players careers around went from the dead last to top 10 both years.
That has now changed.
They have to find a list of candidates willing to interview considering how bad ownership is. Thats not easy.
Lol Nagy? Really?
And Spags? Some people are better off being coordinators.
At least Spags is genuinely great at what he does.
Nagy doesn’t even call the plays.
Yet Nagy was the better HC by any way you look at it. Spagnolo is an all time bad HC. Nagy gave the Super Bowl champs that year the toughest game they had after going 12-4 with Trubiski at QB and should have won that game. It would be an underwhelming hire from a PR standpoint, but so was Dan Quinn a year ago for Washington. The rest of that list though is ugly.
The St. Louis Rams were an “organizational” mess during its last ten years in St. Louis (50-109). Spagnolo’s three year tenure was part of this, but I am not sure even a great head coach would have been much better in St. Louis during these years (see Pete Carroll and others who walked into similar situations with other teams).
Nagy called plays for 3 seasons. Went 34-31 with Mitch Trubisky, who couldn’t throw a football accurately.
One of the worst head coaches I’ve ever seen.
titans had a really good coach and quit on him .. good luck with the search .. have a feeling they’ll be doing this again in another two years
Mike McCarthy is better than any of these guys.
Anarumo torpedoed any head coaching opportunities with the Colts’ 7-game losing streak. Houston went up and down the field on Indy all day in Week 18.
Buckle up titans fans. You’re entering browns like era of futility.
If they hire Spags, it will be one less thing for Collinsworth to salivate over next season during his KC blathering.